


50 Years Alone

by Lina12many



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Imprisonment, Isolation, Sort of stockholm syndrome but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 00:36:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16051835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lina12many/pseuds/Lina12many
Summary: After the war Voldemort decides that the Boy-Who-Lived is better off alone.





	50 Years Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Since it is my birthday and there is no way I will be able to update my main fic, I figured I would post a few of the one shots I have been working on.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

The day the war ended and the light lost Harry was thrown into the Room. The last thing he saw before the door slammed shut was Voldemort’s cold, red eyes. He spent the rest of the day pounding on the door, screaming to be let out.

After a week of no response, he was forced to accept that the snake-faced dark wizard wasn’t coming back.

After a month other objects started to appear, clothes, books, and small games. At first, he chucked them all into the corner but after a while, he started reading just to keep the boredom away.

After 6 months he had written down his life story.

After a year he stopped counting the days since he was imprisoned.

After five years Harry started to forget how to speak. The first time he couldn’t remember a word he panicked, flipping through the books and journals trying to find it. It was the first of many that he forgot and he cried for days.

After ten years Harry forgot about his friends. He could vaguely remember them but when he reread his journals it seemed more like a familiar story than something that had happened to him.

After 20 years Harry decided that there was no point in continuing on. He lay on the bed for three days, not moving at all. He ignored the food and water that magically appeared on the table. By the third day, he was so weak that when the chime rang he could barely turn to see what caused it. A small gap opened at the bottom of the door and a long snake slithered in. It was easily twice as long as Harry was tall and looked as if it could swallow him without thinking twice. It slithered across the floor and onto the bed, sliding up alongside Harry who didn’t have the energy to do more than shift slightly to the side. The snake’s tail lifted and he could see it was holding a vial of some sort. The vial uncorked itself and the snake poured the contents into Harry’s mouth, his parched throat drinking the liquid greedily.

A surge of energy flowed through him and he sat up with a gasp. The snake slid off of him with what sounded like disgruntled mutterings and made its way back to the door. Harry began to panic at the thought of the only living thing he had seen in who knows how long leaving and fell off the bed in an attempt to chase after the reptile. The snake stopped at the crash he made and turned back, circling him slowly. He reached out and touched the smooth scales like a starving man reaching for food wad was unable to keep the sobs from escaping his throat. Tears welled up as he felt the warmth and muscles underneath his hands, not caring that they were strong enough to kill him. The snake wrapped itself around him as if in an embrace and eventually he passed out, still holding on tightly.

For the next decade, the snake came and went irregularly. Harry tried to speak to it, his vocal chords taking some time to recover after not having been used for so long. He still couldn’t remember a lot of words but the books helped. The snake never spoke back despite Harry knowing he could speak parseltongue, but it was better than the complete solitude he had before.

After 35 years he barely remembered that there was a world outside of his room. The names and places in his books seemed more like fiction than reality. Occasionally he would wake up from dreams of red-headed families, bushy brown haired girls, and a man that seemed to resemble a whale. The last always left him sweaty and shaking. 

After 50 years there was a new chime at the door, which startled Harry since the snake (which he named Nagini after the one in his journal) was sitting at the foot of the bed. He stared in shock as the door swung open and a man was standing on the other side. He was tall with pale skin that seemed almost snakelike, red eyes, and dark brown hair. The man stepped into the room as Harry continued to stare at him, unsure if he was real or not. The man approached the bed and sat down on the edge next to Harry. “Hello Harry,” he said, “ How are you doing?”

It was a person. A real person! Harry reached out hesitantly, his fingers ghosting over the man’s face and clothes, almost afraid that if he touched too hard the man would disappear. The man seemed to sense this and took Harry’s hand in his own. Harry stared at the first human contact he had had in decades, unable to believe it. “I figured that 50 years would be enough time for me to get my affairs in order and you to be more...open to my way of thinking.”

Harry wasn’t focusing on what the man was saying. He was just so happy to hear someone speak again. He bought his fingers up to touch the man’s lips willing him to continue to speak. “Please,” he begged, his voice soft and on the verge of tears, “Don’t stop.”

The man chuckled softly. “Of course my dear Horcrux. It will take you some time to adjust to other people again but I’m sure you’ll have no trouble. That is if you accept my offer.”

Harry looked up at him quizzically. “Offer?”

“You can join me and leave this place or you can spend another 50 years in here.”

A wave of terror washed over him at the thought of having to spend so long alone again. He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around the man's neck tightly. “No, no, no, no, no.” He repeated, burying his face into the man’s neck. He smelled strange, like chocolate mixed with some sharp metallic scent.

The man’s arms wrapped around him and a thrill went up his back at the contact. It was almost too much for Harry to take but he didn’t let go, scared the man was going to leave him. “I’ll take that as your answer then,” the man said, climbing to his feet with Harry still wrapped around him.

The man lifted Harry easily and carried him to the door where the raven finally peeled his face away to look around. The hallway on the other side of the door was rather plain but it was the first new sight he had seen and it brought tears to his eyes. The man took him down hallway after hallway until they reached another door and Harry tensed. What if this was just a new room for the man to trap him in?

The man must have understood because he ran a soothing hand up and down Harry’s back. “It’s alright. As long as you behave you won’t go back there.”

Harry relaxed at the touch and turned his eyes to the new room as the door opened. It seemed to be a bedroom as well, though larger than the one Harry had been kept in. There was a bed large enough for three people on one side and a wall full of books on the other but what caught Harry’s attention was the large glass doors that led to a balcony. Harry pushed against the man, scrambling out of his grasp and making a beeline straight for those doors. They swung open easily and the cold air hit his face roughly but it felt so nice against his skin as he ran to the railing, leaning out as far as he could. The ground below was a soft green and Harry wanted to reach out and touch it so badly. A strong arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him back and he whined pitifully, looking up at the man. “Now, now.” The man scolded lightly. “It wouldn’t do for you to go killing yourself so soon after getting released. We can look at the grounds after you’ve been cleaned up properly.”

Harry looked longingly back as the man led him back into the bedroom, sitting him down on the bed. As the man rifled through the wardrobe, Harry continued to look around the room. Along the wall with the bookshelves were a desk and a small fireplace with some comfy looking chairs. There was another door by the bed which Harry guessed led to the bathroom. The man came back after a minute with a set of clothes draped over one arm and held out a hand for Harry to take. “You need to bathe before we go anywhere,” he said as Harry gripped the offered appendage tightly.

He led Harry to the other door which did, in fact, lead to the bathroom. There was a shower and a tub filled with warm water. The man set down the clothes as Harry took it all in and turned to leave. A flash of panic went through Harry and he reached out, grabbing the man’s arm tightly. “You’re leaving?” he asked fearfully.

The man lay a hand on top of Harry’s. “I will just be in the other room. I won’t leave you my Horcrux.”

Harry nodded and slowly released his grip on the man’s sleeve, waiting until the door closed before turning back to the tub. He stripped quickly and stepped into the bath, washing quickly but thoroughly before putting on the clothes the man left him and leaving the bathroom. True to his word the man was sitting in one of the chairs by the fireplace, flipping through a book. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and set the book aside. Harry ran across the room to him, practically leaping into the man’s lap, so relieved that he had not left. “See I told you I wouldn’t leave.” The man pet Harry’s head comfortingly. “You didn’t even dry your hair properly. Were you so worried?”

With a whispered word, a towel zoomed out of the bathroom and into the man’s hand. Harry stared wide-eyed at the display of magic. He hadn’t performed any spells since he had been thrown into the room and felt a sudden longing for that power again. The man wrapped the towel around Harry's head and rubbed softly, drying the younger man’s hair so it wasn’t dripping anymore. “There. That’s better,” he said, cupping the raven’s cheek with one hand.

Harry closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, a soft purr like sound escaping, making the man smile again. Harry opened his eyes again and stared at the man. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“I am Lord Marvolo Slytherin. Also known as Lord Voldemort.”

Harry frowned. “Like in my books?”

The man nodded.

“But the Voldemort in my books was evil. He’s the one who put me in the room. Are you going to put me back there?” Tears welled up in Harry’s eyes suddenly and his voice began to tremble.

Marvolo wiped the tears away gently. “No my Horcrux. I won’t. That was the old Voldemort. Most call me Lord Slytherin now but you may address me as Marvolo. You will not return to that room unless you try to betray me. And you won’t be doing that will you pet?”

Harry’s eyes widened in horror and he shook his head emphatically before hugging Marvolo tightly again. “No. Never,” he said, “Don't leave me alone. Don’t put me back there.”

Marvolo wrapped his arms around the shaking body once more, grinning wildly. Finally, the light side had truly fallen to him. Finally, he had gotten what he wanted.


End file.
